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On June 17, 1970, a peaceful demonstration was organized by the Sahrawi population in the popular neighborhood of Zemla, El-Aaiún, then under Spanish colonial occupation, to protest against Spanish colonial oppression and demand the Sahrawi people’s legitimate rights, particularly the right to self-determination leading to independence, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960. This peaceful Sahrawi mobilization, driven by a legitimate aspiration for freedom, was brutally oppressed by the Spanish colonial authorities. The bloody crackdown resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries among Sahrawi demonstrators.

During this time, the leader of the Sahrawi nationalist movement, Sidi Mohamed Basiri, an emblematic figure of Sahrawi civil resistance, was arrested by the Spanish colonial authorities and has been missing ever since. To this day, the Spanish authorities have never clarified his fate. His disappearance has made Basiri an eternal symbol of the Sahrawi struggle for dignity and justice.

This brutal repression on June 17, 1970, marked a decisive turning point in the Sahrawi people’s anti-colonial struggle. It exposed the violence of the Francoist regime and galvanized resistance, paving the way for new forms of mobilization. This uprising laid the groundwork for the creation of the Polisario Front in 1973, which declared an armed and diplomatic struggle for the self-determination and independence of Western Sahara.

By commemorating this event, The Sahrawi Instance Against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM) strongly condemns the Spanish colonial legacy and the current Moroccan occupation, which continues to inflict brutal oppression on Sahrawi civilians in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Our organization, ISACOM, reaffirms the continuity of the Sahrawi national resistance—from the first revolts against Spanish colonization to the current struggle against Moroccan occupation, including key moments such as the Independence Intifada launched on May 21, 2005, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and the Gdeim Izik protest camp from October 10 to November 8, 2010. These episodes of peaceful national struggle testify to the resilience and determination of the Sahrawi people to defend their inalienable rights to self-determination and independence.

While the question of Western Sahara remains unresolved despite the presence, since September 6, 1991, of a UN and African peace mission (MINURSO) tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and organizing a self-determination referendum, and despite numerous resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, the United Nations, and the African Union in favor of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, ISACOM take hold of this anniversary to reject categorically any form of normalization with the Moroccan occupation and calls for greater mobilization to pressure the international community to fulfill its responsibilities in upholding international law and holding accountable those complicit in Morocco’s colonial and neocolonial injustices in Western Sahara.

The Sahrawi Instance Against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM), demands that the former colonial power, Spain, provide necessary clarifications on the fate of Sahrawi nationalist leader Sidi Mohamed Basiri and pays tribute to the martyrs of the historic Zemla uprising and all victims of colonial and neocolonial genocide in Western Sahara, while reaffirming its unwavering commitment to the freedom, justice and independence of Western Sahara.

Sahrawi Instance Against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM)
El Aaiún/ RASD : June 17, 2025